BlackRock About to Be No. 1 Money Firm

Fink's Company, Combined with Barclays's Unit, Would Be Largest at $2.8 Trillion in Assets

By

Eleanor Laise

Updated June 11, 2009 11:59 p.m. ET

One of the money-management business's rare successful acquirers is on the brink of its biggest deal ever.

An expected deal in which BlackRock Inc. would buy indexing company Barclays Global Investors from British bank Barclays PLC is likely to be announced as early as Thursday, according to people close to the matter. The New York money manager is expected to pay about $13 billion for the asset-management unit, and Barclays could...